Present: Tense
by Dr. Vainglorious
Summary: If he's everything she's looking for in a boyfriend, how come she doesn't want him? Vaaaaaague, aren't I?


The Title:  
Present: Tense

The Author:  
Dr. Vainglorious

The Operator Of The Chop-Shop Is:  
Dr. Robert Moses Knoxville

The Fandom Is:  
Kim Possible

All of The Characters Mentioned Were Created By:  
Disney

Consequentially, these characters do NOT belong to  
Dr. Vainglorious

The Angry Ex-Member of The Spectrum Is:  
Indigo

_And this is..._

**(Drum Roll...)**

_...A Dr. Vainglorious Production  
_  
_**"Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh! All right!"**_

* * *

"He's _sooo_ hot, I am _soooo_ totally jealous." 

"You are soooo lucky to have him."

"I've got to hand it to you... he's is quite the catch," Bonnie said to her.

She smiled right back, though it wasn't exactly the most sincere smile in the world. The word in itself spread like wildfire; she was the brand new envy of the most girls around Middleton High. She was wished well by the fairweather. Her detractors, in all their jealousy, doubted that it was going to last very long. The gossipers proceeded to blow everything out of proportion with half-truths and full lies. Her cheerleading counterparts asked about how she landed such a hottie. The cynics thought that it was only customary that a cheerleader would hook up with the captain of the basketball team.

Who was the captain of the basketball team? None other than Jason Morgan. He was tall, he was about as handsome as it came, he was intelligent, though it was uncharacteristic of a Middleton High ballplayer, and to top it all off, he was the most talented athlete this side of star quarterback, Brick Flagg. Needless to say the girls weren't the only one that had constant eyes on the brown-haired boy.It wasn't uncommon to see scouts from big name universities check out the young man as he worked his magic on the court. He was a superstar in the making. What girl wouldn't want to have this strapping young man as a boyfriend?

"Tara? _Tara_?"

The blonde was whisked back into the present.

"Is there anything wrong, Tara? You haven't said much."

Guiltily, the cheerleader looked downward. There she was, at her favorite restaurant with the Middleton High's resident dreamboat, and she was in la-la-land!

"I-I-I'm sorry, Jason," she stammered. "My head is somewhere else right now,"

"Really, what's wrong?"

Maybe it was the blonde in her, but she couldn't find much of a lie to tell at the moment.

"Ummm... Personal... Personal stuff," she said hesitantly.

"Oh," The brown-haired boy said. He figured it would be best not to pry into whatever was wrong with his girlfriend. He figured that when she was ready she would tell him. He also figured that this date was just about over.

"You want a ride home?"

"I'd like that," the blonde said with a smile.

Leaving the bill at their table, Jason led the way out of the restaurant and to the parking lot. He led the girl to his car. One could tell that young Jason Morgan was quite the playboy. When a seventeen-year old has a car that costs more than a teacher's yearly salary, well... you know the rest. Like the fine gentleman that he was, he opened the door for his lady and ushered her in.

This was so totally critical. Jason was nice, kind, cute, hot, understanding, and flippin' wealthy! How could she not feel like she was the luckiest girl on the face of the planet?

On the driver's side, Jason was unnerved. He hoped that he hadn't done anything wrong. They've only been officially hooked upfor a week-and-a-half. While he was a master of court vision and finding the open man, he wasn't exactly the MVP of understanding the opposite sex. He had been infatuated with Tara from afar for quite a long time. It also took him weeks, even months to muscle up the courage to talk to her.

He took occasional glances at the blonde at red lights. She certainly looked uncomfortable over on the passenger's side. He had an idea to speak up, but he couldn't gather the words.

Tara had hoped that Jason wasn't too upset at the way she acted. It was very unlike her to be as distant as she was. It was true that her mind wasn't in the present, but rather in the past.

"Tara? Tara?"

Once again, Jason's voice transported her back into the here and now.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" She asked sheepishly.

"I asked if we we're going to do this again sometime," Jason nervously said.

That threw the girl for a loop.

"You mean you're not upset?"

"Me? Naaah," he said, trying to sound as calm as he possibly could. "Just as long as you're OK."

The blonde felt a warmth wash over her. Jason was such a nice guy, and it was just a shame that she wasn't into it this night. But at this very moment, she decided that she would make up for it. She reached for the back of the young man's neck and let him have it. She let the kiss linger for as long as she could before dramatically breaking away from him.

OK... Maybe he didn't do anything wrong. Save for the outrageously goofy grin that he had on his face. Seconds later, and as if someone flashed a mirror in front of his laughable features, his grin receded into a warm smile.

"Goodnight, Jason," she said, her voice as low as a whisper.

"G'night, Tara... I'll see you tomorrow."

She let a dainty hand drift across the brown-haired boy's cheek. She grinned as the boy blushed a fine crimson. Exchanging some further good-bye's, Jason went off. Tara let out a sigh as the boy sped out of her view. Maybe she would be able to rest the conflicts that were going on within her.

However... As soon as she entered the house.

"Taraaa... How was your date with Jason?" her mother asked.

"It was fine, mother," she replied.

"He's such a nice boy. I think he might be the one," the older blonde said with a wink.

Tara sighed inwardly. It was only their third date and her mother was already hearing wedding bells. Of course, her mother would have told her that it didn't have anything to do with the fact that he was already well-off, and he was well-known in Middleton... The girl trudged up the stairs and into her room. She laid there on her bed for several minutes with the lights turned off, staring at the ceiling. Sleep wouldn't come, no matter how hard the cheerleader tried to will herself into thinking that she was tired. To the blonde, it felt like an extra-strength microscope was placed on her. Everyone who was and pretended to be everyone seemed to pressure her into Jason. Sure, she liked him... all the pressing to ask him out on the other hand, not so much.

Worse yet, the past was beginning to catch up with her.

"Noo... He's in the past," she told herself repeatedly.

She couldn't stop herself. The past was the subject of her thoughts in the present.

* * *

"Tonight was..." The boy tried to gather an answer to describe what had taken place. "It was... you were... gosh, you look great." 

It was a clear starry night in Middleton. Everything had gone the way it planned. Call it cliche if you will, but everything had just been perfect for Tara. The girl blushed under the gaze of her romancer. Sure, he was stumbling over his words mightily, but she couldn't help but to smile at his nervousness. There was just a certain charm about the boy. A charm, of course, that she couldn't resist.

"Tara, will we do this again sometime?" He asked hopefully.

"Are you kidding? Of course," she answered, smothering the boy into a loving embrace. When she pulled away, she realized that the boy was as flushed as she was. It gave the blonde girl a bit more confidence in the situation... and confidence meant that she was going to do what she had wanted to for such a long time. Drawing closer to the young man, she puckered her lips... Her sky blue eyes were already closed in anticipation. She was just a couple of inches away. Centimeters... Millimeters...

* * *

"Tar-aaaaa!" 

_"Mmmm... wha?"_

The blonde slowly opened her eyes... What the? Where was...? Instead of that perfect starry night, the sun was peaking through the window. And... Instead of the boy that was thought she was kissing, she was kissing her pillow... and, who was calling her?

"Tar-aaaaa! You're going to be late for school!"

Now she had realized it. That was the sing-song voice of her mother calling her. Urgh! Why couldn't she just sleep for another sixty seconds? All of her dreams of the boy ended like in the exact same fashion. The blonde sighed as she removed the sweaty blanket from her body. Groggily, she got up from the bed and headed for the bathroom.

She was going to be in the shower... for a while...

* * *

For months, the blonde cheerleader wondered why the past relationship with Josh Mankey had flamed out. In the present, however, she knew exactly of the reason. 

Josh wasn't the subject of all the romantic dreams that she had been having since the beginning of her sophmore year. Josh wasn't the one that she had all kinds of problems with trying to talk to. Josh wasn't the boy that gave her all those problems when he came within ten feet of her. The conclusion was fairly simple, as she accumulated all the information.

Josh wasn't the one that she wanted.

Past that, an even more bitter realization struck her.

Jason wasn't the one she wanted either.

The one she wanted was a freckle-faced goofy blond that also doubled as the Middleton High School mascot.

* * *

End of Chapter 1 

Yeah, buddy... It's Ron/Tara... Or at least it's going to be, given that I continue it. We'll just stick to "one-sided" for now.

Holla at me with a review and if I should continue this... I kinda wrote myself into a corner here.


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